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Sent him $699 for a kenwood TS-940SAt in "Perfect Operating Condition"
Ships a 50 lb radio in a single wall box with nothing more than a few foam peanuts and can't understand why it's DOA after a cross country trip on one of those Brown Trucks. I've seen too many times what "Brown Can Do For Me"

Randy's attitude, well I've already spent too much money on this radio so, too bad for you, It's your problem now not mine."

I hope you really enjoy the $699 Randy. You must really need it.

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If you paid $30 for a small bag of foam peanuts and a box, along with $70 to ship it, then it proves that you have more money than brains.

You are right, I am an eBay merchant. My user name is cme_radio_merchant or you can follow the link http://www.radiomerchant.com. I have had nearly 1500 transactions on eBay and I am proud of my 100% feedback rating.

How do you keep a rating like that you ask? Well it's easy, you take care of your customers. You pack items like you were shipping them to yourself. If a customer has a problem, you take care of it. The money is secondary.

Just like the time you encountered a problem with a tuner you purchased from me Randy. You contacted me and told me of a problem you experianced with it. My response was no problem. I canceled an auction I had for another identical unit and shipped it to you without even waiting to receive the defective one back. You were grateful.

In fact, you were so grateful that you agreed to sell me the TS-940 because I had treated you so well even though you had six other responses before me.

Well, all I can say is that I'm happy that you sold it to me and not some young ham just getting started who scraped up every dime he had to make his dream purchase. Imagine the dissapointment that ham would have felt when having to deal with the heartbreak of having been taken by an insensitive fool like you.

I can absorb the loss Randy. No big deal. I'm glad you have a lot of money. Now go wag your weenie somewhere else.

Well, If you weren't hreatening we could have worked it out. By the way, you took back and replaced the tuner because the one you advertised said it was in perfect working order. Obviously, you must retain your 100% feedback record on ebay, which is a joke in itself. Anyhow, it was not unreasonable for me to suggest that you have an estimate. It could be really something very minor. I can not undertsand how you would not do that. I just think you didnt want the radio and felt you apid too much ...

Perhaps I'll regret butting into into a personal fight, but oh, well, I tend to do some silly things sometimes.

Some observations: If someone buys something from you and it's defective, their attitude afterward is irrelevant. Anyone who's ever run a business knows that customers who get something defective are always upset and you can't hold it against them. Of course they're upset. You've just sold them the reason! Your only rational, responsible and ethical response is to fix the problem. If they're still upset after you replace, repair or accept the return of the defective product, then sure, perhaps you're dealing with someone who's just plain difficult. But when I hear someone saying, in effect, I'd have fixed it if you weren't so upset, it sounds to me like they were just looking for an excuse not to fix it no matter what.

If the problem appears to be damage in shipping and you were the one who packed it, insured it and shipped it, it's your responsibility, not anyone else's, to get estimates or whatever it is you think should be done. Anyway, since it was you, not the recipient who entered into the contract with the shipping company, you're the only one from whom the shipper will even accept a complaint. The recipient's only responsibility -- all he can do! -- is to make the product and all the shipping materials available to the investigator the shipping company will send out to review the matter.

Finally, belittling someone's pride at achieving a record of 100% satisfied customers makes it sound like you don't think having people you do business with walk away satisfied is very important. It sounds like you're saying that you think the best strategy is, once you get the money, screw 'em since the whole point -- the only point! -- is to get the money. You should know this does not paint a flattering image of you.

Free advice, but my own experience in business is that for every customer who tells you someone you didn't want to hear, there are probably 10 more who felt the same but decided simply to walk away rather than fool with you again. Your most important customers are the ones who complain because they tell you things you need to know about what you're doing wrong if you want to succeed (in business and in life.)

You'll do whatever you want, obviously, but if it was me, I'd contact the shipping company to have them investigate but be prepared to have them come back and report that the unit was improperly packed and not their responsibility. Regardless of whether I was ever going to see a dime from insurance, I'd send out a call tag to have the unit returned to me at my expense and I'd refund the payment I'd received. Since, as you point out, you have so much money you could buy your customer 100 times over, this should not be a problem for you.

Well put KD1UJ ... Bravo.

I't hard to belive other strangers post remarks when they do not have full details of the situation. You people must not have anything better to do. Get a life. You have not read the off-site emails I received from the buyer or know what really went on. Although I feel this is a waste of my time to reply, I will offer the following so that you OM can get some sleep. I did offer to put in an insurance claim with UPS but the buyer refused. I also told him to get an estimate of repairs localling in California where he is (I'm in NY) and we would work something out. Instead he took the rig apart and tried to make repairs himself. I sold this unit and another piece of equipment to him at a cost of $300 less than I had into it so he knew it was a bargain. Most importantly, it worked great when it left my QTH and the pictures he sent showed no shipping damage. For you people who try to lecture about good business ethics, what business would take a rig back after the buyer opened it up and started to make repairs? These formums may serve some useful purpose, but without knowing all the facts it really comes down to the fatc that whoever reads them just have too much time on their hands and to offer comments without knowing all the details is really a waste of time. I am not an ebay reseller not do I need to sell anything online. This was a rare situation that I offered up an item and someone played with it and then wanted his money back. I would guess by now he has made repairs and sold it at a huge profit on ebay. PS: people with so much extra time on their hands could do better by donating their time to worthy causes instead of reading QTH posts.

kc2llv wrote:PS: people with so much extra time on their hands could do better by donating their time to worthy causes instead of reading QTH posts.

Im glad these posts are here on QTH,they have helped me in a sutiation and informed me in the past and probly will also help in the future.I dont see anything wrong with reading the posts on QTH,There are alot of good people here with alot of good information ,it would be a shame and a waiste not to take advantage of the knowledge people are willing to share.take care:)

I't hard to belive other strangers post remarks when they do not have full details of the situation.

You're right, we don't know all the details, but who's fault is that? You'd responded twice already, so if there were important facts we should know, why didn't you present them instead of silly boasts of being able to buy your customer 100 times over?

Most smart businesspeople look forward to the opportunity to respond publicly to a customer complaint, especially if there's a chance the customer might be a little unreasonable. Usually, when they bend over backward to do the right thing it's just in private and no one sees it. But in a public forum, they know others reading it are likely to say to themselves, "Wow, if he handled an angry customer that nicely, think how pleasant he'll be with me."

You passed up that opportunity. Instead, your response to some ordinary conflict, the kind of thing most people realize they're just going to have to learn to deal with in a constructive manner if they want to be successful, was to get nasty. And not satisfied just to get nasty with your customer, you decided to get nasty with anyone offering a comment. You even sent private mail to be sure I knew you were angry. Here's what I found in my inbox from you:

You must have a lot of time on your hands to respond to posts on QTH offering opinions when you are lacking all the facts. Very odd that you would take the time to do so when it doesn't change the outcome.

I don't know all the facts of your interaction with K6CVC, but I do know all the facts of your interaction with me (and so does everyone else) because it's all taken place right here in this forum. I offered what I intended as constructive feedback but, still, there might have been some folks thinking, well, okay, good advice generally, but who really knows what happened with K6CVC. But given your angry response to me, I think they do know! I can't imagine you've left anyone in doubt of whether they would ever consider doing business with you. So I think it has changed the outcome, and it's all your own doing! :)

Finally, please don't send me more mail. I can't possibly imagine it's anything I need to read, much less respond to, and anyway, all I'm going to do is just post it here for all to see.

Another message from Mr. Ferraro appeared in my inbox this morning. Apparently, when I asked that he not send me more mail, he wasn't sure what that meant.

[email protected] wrote:Now I know for sure that you really do have too much time on your hands. Do you really think I care what is posted on QTH? I realize everyone has a story to tell. I'm not an ebay reseller or in business to sell radios on line. What is presented on QTH means very little to me. I just get amused at the reactions people post realizing they only do so to offer an opinion.

My past posts were also comments directed at the buyer who sent me emails directly without posted them so everyone could see both sides. Any reasonable reader would realize that if a seller asks to make a claim against the shipper (UPS, since that's why I insured it) or suggests to get an estimate for repairs (which the buyer refused) and the buyer refused then there is more to the story. I would bet by now the problem was very minor, the radio works fine and it has been resold on ebay since that is what this buyer does for a living.

I really don't need business advise from you either as I am sure after thirty years owning a very successful business, I could teach you many things.

In the meantime, I would suggest that you spend your extra time doing what mothers should do.

Nicole Hamilton, I sure do respect my wife now. I know she wouldn't spend a second reading these stupid posts and certainly would never get involved in some other's person business. You really are simple-minded.

More mail from Mr. Ferraro, who obviously does not know what the word, "No," means.

[email protected] wrote:Wow Ms. Hamilton, you really don't have a life do you. Try reading Ladies Home Journal instead of wasting your time on QTH offering a useless opinion on a topic that you know nothing about.